Fourth man guilty in 2008 murders of Marine, wife

RIVERSIDE  A Fallbrook man was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of a Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant and his wife in their home near Murrieta.

Kesaun Kedron Sykes, 27, was found guilty in Riverside Superior Court in connection with the October 2008 slayings of Sgt. Jan Pietrzak, 24, and Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, 26.

The victims were found in their home in the unincorporated area of Winchester/French Valley. Each was bound and had been shot in the head.

The jury deliberated less than two hours before reaching verdicts, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

In addition to two counts of murder, the jury also found several special-circumstance allegations to be true: that Sykes had committed murder during a robbery, murder during a burglary, rape by instrument and multiple murders.

A second part of the trial is expected to begin Monday, when the jury will likely hear more testimony. At the end of the penalty phase, the panel will be asked to recommend the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sykes is the fourth man to be tried in connection with the killings. Last year, two separate Riverside County juries found Kevin Cox, 26, Emrys John, 24, and Tyrone Miller, 26, guilty of murder charges and special-circumstance allegations.

Cox was tried separately from the others.

Based on the jurors’ recommendations, John and Miller were sentenced last year to the death penalty. Cox was sentenced to life without parole.

Riverside prosecutors said Cox, John and Miller all worked with Pietrzak while stationed at Camp Pendleton. They, along with Sykes, forced their way into to the victims’ home, apparently intending to rob them.

Pietrzak was physically assaulted and his wife was sexually assaulted before they were murdered, prosecutors said.